A story that should be getting more attention is one out of the Black Hills of South Dakota. It doesn't get much more interesting than a depredating lion, a 14 year old hunter protecting the family livelihood, and a rifle won at an NRA raffle.The story has already been written by Tom Griffith. The article is well done. I do not want to steal the author's thunder. Here is an excerpt to the rapidcityjournal.com: After a long, sad day, Streff’s youngest child, 14-year-old Dalton, who fancies himself a hunter, told his mother he was going to go sit in...

Roy Eykamp is 99 years old. He made his first gun when he was seven years old. It was a crude pistol made from a barrel he salvaged from the trash, fired with a hand held hammer, and later, strong rubber bands cut from inner-tubes and a breechblock. He used it to start his lifelong talent for making money. He shot gophers with it, using .22 shorts.The government paid a 5 cent bounty for each gopher. He made enough money shooting gophers, that when his mother confiscated his homemade gun, he was able to buy a factory one with...

Representatives from 13 states including 12 state attorneys general and one governor filed a motion in support of President Trumpâ€™s temporary travel ban. From the Dallas Morning News: Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday led a coalition of 13 states in filing a brief with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defending President Donald Trumpâ€™s revised immigration order.In the brief, Paxton and representatives from 12 other states argue that the Trump administrationâ€™s new order is legal and falls under the presidentâ€™s power over foreign affairs and national security. Those joining the brief included Paxton plus AGâ€™s in the...

On Friday, March 17, 2017, Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota vetoed HB 1072, known as the Constitutional Carry bill, and HB 1156, which would have allowed a small number of South Dakota holders of Enhanced Concealed Carry permits to carry inside of the state Capitol. His veto letters reproduced below, sans headers and signature block. From sd.gov: I herewith return to you House Bill 1072 with my VETO. House Bill 1072 is an Act to repeal and revise certain provisions relating to permits to carry a concealed pistol. The proponents of House Bill 1072 did not testify about...

North Dakota is considering a permitless, or "Constitutional" carry bill. The sponsor is Representative Rick Becker (R-Bismarck). The bill is HB 1169, and was heard in the House Energy & Natural Resources Committee. The vote in the committee is likely this week. From Representative Becker's facebook page on January 26, 2017: We had a great hearing today for HB 1169, the constitutional carry bill. There were about 10 articulate, impassioned advocates speaking in favor, plus many more supporting in attendance. There were only 3 against, most of whom employed the oft-touted emotionalism that gun control advocates often do. Lawmakers,...

South Dakota had a Total of 96,227 concealed carry permits active at the end of November, 2016. From kelo.com: PIERRE, SD (KELO AM) Permits issued for concealed carry firearms reached an all-time high in South Dakota in 2016. Secretary of State Shantel Krebs says there were 30,029 concealed carry permits issued, nearly 4,000 more than the previous record in 2013. The total regular, renewed, and enhanced permits issued up to at the end of November, in 2016, were 27,877. That indicates that 2,848 permits were issued or renewed in December of 2016. The capjournal.com notes that 3,879 were issued...

South Dakota Representative Lynne DiSanto South Dakota will be considering a permitless, or "Constitutional" carry bill again this year. In 2012, a bill passed both the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by Gov Daugaard. In 2012, only Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming had Constitutional carry. In 2015, Constitutional carry passed the South Dakota House, but was killed by a Senate Committee. It passed the House 44 to 23. The Senate was controlled by Republicans, 27 to 8. Now, in 2016, Constitutional carry is expected to be introduced by Representative Lynne DiSanto. From siouxcityjournal.com: PIERRE, S.D. —...

The Pentagon has responded to a globally-released ‘Kill List’, asking law enforcement to give extra protection for military personnel whose personal information was released,News Channel 10 reports. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the Pentagon spent the weekend notifying the soldiers who appeared on the list, and urged city police departments and military police to increase patrol in the neighborhoods where the targeted live. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the list days ago, a report that contained names, photos, and home addresses of U.S. Armed Forces personnel, causing alarm in cities potentially at high-risk....

On the first of February, 2015, I wrote about a gun law reform bill introduced in the South Dakota House. The bill included a number of reforms, including removing the restriction on the legal carry of concealed firearms by people who could legally own firearms. The bill passed the House 44 to 23 on the 10th of February, 2015. The bill looked like a shoo in to pass the Senate, with Republicans in the majority in the South Dakota Senate, with 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats. But there have been a number of Republicans who are not interested in...

HB1116, has passed the South Dakota House, 44-23. While that is an enormous majority, it is short, by one vote, of the 2/3 necessary to override a potential veto by Governor Daugaard. The house has 70 members, 58 of which are Republicans. In the Senate, there are 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats, a bit tighter ratio. The Governor, Dennis Daugaard, has been in office since 2011. Governor Daugaard vetoed a constitutional carry bill in 2012, citing concerns of law enforcement officials. From the argusleader.com: Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed any resident 18...

A gun law reform bill, HB1116, has been introduced into the South Dakota house. The bill has 28 co-sponsors. The house has 70 members, 58 of which are Republicans, and 12 Democrats. 36 votes will be needed to pass the bill. In the Senate, there are 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats, a bit tighter ratio. The South Dakota Governor is Dennis Daugaard, who has been in office since 2011. Governor Daugaard vetoed a constitutional carry bill in 2012, citing concerns of law enforcement officials. In 2013, Governor Daugaard signed a bill that specifically allowed school districts to...

The investigation into Saturday night’s alleged harassment of a Native American school group at a Rapid City hockey game is focused on a man from Philip, according to a source who was near the incident when it occurred. Meanwhile, that same person says the incident was ignited when some members of the school group reportedly did not stand for the National Anthem prior to the start of the Rapid City Rush game. That claim, however, was flatly denied by several of the adults who were with the school group and say the children from the Pine Ridge school did stand...

South Dakota's suddenly tight Senate race is suddenly not so tight again, according to the polls. Still, none of the four candidates has majority support. Polls released in recent days show Republican Mike Rounds with bigger leads than in the previous round of polling. A KELO/Sioux Falls Argus Leader poll conducted Oct. 20-23 showed Rounds with 42 percent support; Democrat Rick Weiland at 33 percent; independent Larry Pressler at 13 percent; and independent Gordon Howie at 2 percent. Another 10 percent of respondents were undecided. An NBC News/Marist poll conducted Oct. 19-23 showed Rounds at 43 percent, Weiland at 29...

The three-way race for South Dakota’s open Senate seat got more complicated Wednesday, when the Sioux Falls Argus Leader published a page one story alleging that former Governor Mike Rounds, the Republican candidate and current leader in the polls, had approved $600,000 in state assistance to a company that was about hire a member of his cabinet. According to reporter David Montgomery, then Secretary of Tourism and State Development Richard Benda requested the assistance for Northern Beef Packers about two weeks before he and Rounds were to leave office. Benda was about to go to work for a company with...

Virtually every major electoral forecaster had described the three-way race in South Dakota -- along with likely lopsided contests in West Virginia and Montana -- as a sure thing for Republicans hungry to win a Senate majority. Top Democrats have come to disagree with the conventional wisdom, however. And they’re betting serious money against it. Signs of Democratic optimism surfaced last week. RCP reported Public Policy Polling’s Tom Jensen assertion that the race “is just as competitive as the ones in places like New Hampshire and Michigan that have drawn far more attention.” Then the levee broke: Bloomberg Politics reported...

When an Oglala Sioux Tribal police officer used her Taser several times on a man lying helpless on the ground in Manderson on Friday afternoon, she was trying to get the man "to wake up and stand up," Ron Duke, chief of the OST Department of Public Safety, said Monday. The man, Duke said, was "lying on the ground, probably passed out, clearly intoxicated." The incident was caught on camera by a passerby who taped the officer repeatedly zapping the man who appears to never resist, defend himself or make any threatening moves. An expert in Tasers said using the...

Gordon Howie, a former South Dakota state senator, has filed a petition to run as an Independent for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Tim Johnson. In the June Republican primary former governor Mike Rounds will be running against Stace Nelson. November’s ballot will list the winner of the Republican primary, Howie, Democrat Rick Weiland and Independent Larry Pressler. Howie says he will withdraw from the race if Nelson wins the Republican primary.

The guns have been silent at American Clarion for the past two days, laid low by a devastating fall blizzard in West River South Dakota. Power has been intermittent and completely out during that time. The snow started Friday morning with overnight rain transitioning directly into snow. It was sticking and becoming slushy right away, and not long after daylight Friday morning, the power started to come on and go off, come on and go off. By late Friday afternoon, the snow was starting to pile up: more than a foot in many places in the Rapid City area. At...

For one group of women, Saturday was the first time they ever shot a gun, but it was for a good reason! A special group was in Humbolt to help teach the group about self-defense when using a firearm. At Hunter's Point Shooting Club, over 50 women of all ages were taking safety to a whole new level. “I don't want to be scared, I want to be prepared,” said Kara Williams, Brandon. Williams and her friend Candace Berndt were just two women taking part in Saturday's firearms self-defense class. The woman said they've wanted to learn how to safely...